On Saturday 9th Feb we were delighted to be at the Festival of Transformation in Bristol, an amazing event hosted by Global Aware. With 190+ people in attendance, it was a privilege for us to host one of the seminars around the Global Goals. As expected, climate change was hot on the topic. Below, Ben Solanky, one of the End Poverty 2030 team shares on the rise of local churches coming together to meet their MPs about SDG 13 Climate Action.

When I think of the power of togetherness, I remember a very special time gathering with older people in northern Cameroon. In Elemighong village, I spent time meeting with an inspiring group of older people who had decided that working together would be far more effective than working alone.

This summer, thousands of Christians will head to Christian festivals around the UK, whether it be New Wine, Focus, Soul Survivor, Davids Tent, Greenbelt, Youth 2000, New Day, One Day, Creation Fest....the list goes on!

In the UK, we'll spend perhaps 4-5 days at a festival, sharing our lives together with another 1,000-14,000 Christians. But, where as our tent is simply a holiday, for many of our brothers and sisters around the world, our tent is their home, our holiday is their life.

As I write, it is the first anniversary of the Grenfell fire tragedy. The Bishop of Kensington is being interviewed on the news, various services have taken place in religious buildings, many prayers have been offered. We have grown sadly used to faith forming the backdrop to enormous, terrible events, as well as more joyous ones such as the recent Royal wedding.

With Easter just around the corner, whether you're a church leader well into your Easter Service planning or a frantic mum and dad looking for Easter holiday opportunities, no doubt some form of chocolate consumption will be on the activity list. And why not? God created cocoa, and it's great! However, when it comes to the Global Goals, if we're passionate about ending poverty by 2030, then Easter provides a great starting point.

On 1st January 2016 the United Nations launched 17 ambitious goals (the Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs) to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and protect the planet, all by 2030. These goals were agreed by 193 countries after years of consultation between many groups including governments and charities, including Christian agencies. Following on from the success of the Millennium Development Goals, the SDGs offered a new and exciting opportunity to tackle some of the biggest issues of our time.